I made a statement on Twitter to one of the dopest WNBA bloggers out there @theSkyShowChi that Nike is the best thing to happen to the WNBA if Nike doesn’t treat the league like it’s secondary. Since I made that statement Nike unveiled the jerseys at the WNBA Draft and they’ve delivered a new technology in the aeroswift jerseys made for women.
While I think they are leaving considerable real estate on the table in marketing opportunities (someone should contact me about this), they just did something that connects the rich heritage of Jordan Brand to the next generation of women ballers. When I was young I wanted the Jordan Wings poster… although I was a Run DMC, Patrick Ewing, adidas fan (hey I still wanted that Jordan poster). Every kid I knew would get a basketball and attempt to recreate the black and white image of a young Jordan with his wings outstretched palming a basketball. The problem for me was I had small hands so I had to create momentum or hold the ball with my hands at the bottom to pull it off.
What sucks now is that posters aren’t sold as much. Kids used to kick it at the mall and visit poster shops, or Foot Locker would carry posters, this is all dead so the remaking of this iconic imagery with the leading lady of the WNBA is perfect and timely. Check out this video:
What’s even more incredible is Jordan Brand took it one step farther and posted the image in Minneapolis just as they did with Michael Jordan in Chicago and now the brand is in discussion with the city to make the poster a permanent display.
When Nike took over I said that it would help both the NBA and WNBA and thus far I haven’t been wrong, but they could be doing so much more. The league is still not as prominent as it should be for a number of reasons, but all of those can be solved with some simple solutions which fall in line with the promotion of women’s sportswear and footwear which is for another post.
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